March
by speakingwordsofwisdom
Summary: Naomi and Emily, attend the protest march in london, and are caught up in the midst of the chaos. Naomily. Please r&r!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Thursday 9th of December 2010 will be rememberd forever as the day the liberal democrats officially betrayed mine and future generations.

I was at the protest march, that went across london and assembled in parliment, before the bill was passed, and it was one of the scariest, saddest, most exciting days of my life. There was much violence from both police and protestors. This was originally meant to be a faberry story, but it didn't work, so i wrote something completly different for Naomily.

PLEASE tell me if its ok, not too OCC, etc, I REALLY want some feedback!

xxxxxxxxxx

It was the roaring she couldn't shut out.

With her eyes screwed shut against her girlfriends shoulder, Emily was just about able to block out the crowds, the buildings that towerd around all four sides of the square, the licking flames in the distance, but the noise was impossible to hide from.

A thousand angry voices, chanting, shouting, screaming. The screaming.

The screams, high, terrified screams, that forced Emily, and everyone else there, to dispell any last lingering hopes they had that there was still some sembalance of control, were genuine that they were terrifying.

Terrifying, too, to think that the people who screamed in pain and fear now were the same people who, hours earlier, had been part of the laughing, energetic crowd of teenagers, who, earlier in the day had shoulderd flags and banners and marched alongside one another with the shared hope that they really COULD make a difference...

They'd felt so powerful that morning. The memory of the euphoria she'd felt helped Emily bear down on her rising panic, helped her focus on staying calm: the sound of a thousand feet, the chanting of a thousand voices, Naomis hand in hers, the feeling that they were making a difference, the sheer energy of their voices all raised together...

It felt like another life, utterly unconnected to what she was experiencing now.

"Ems..." Naomis voice somehow found its way to her ear. "It's ok..."

Emily nodded, mutely, her eyes still shut.

__

It had felt so different this morning...


	2. Chapter 2

(Five hours earlier.)

The lighted screen of the phone showed the time to be thirty six minutes past four; Naomi sighed, and switched it off, stuffing it back into her pocket quickly.

"Nai-" Emily touched her arm. "Shouldn't you leave it on? So our parents can get in touch and stuff?"

"No" The shortness of her reply gave Naomi as much surprise as it did Emily, and she bit her lip. "Sorry, Ems. I just want to try and conserve the battery as long as I can. For when we need it, i mean-"

"You're right" Emily smiled lightly, then paused. "Nai... do you think we will...NEED it, i mean? Like, if something...happens?"

Naomi kept her eyes on her girlfriends face as she answerd. "Yes. Not definitly, but probably."  
She was a rally veteran; she'd been coming since she was four years old. Emily, however, wasn't. This was the first time she'd been able to come to any of Naomis protests, after coursework, exams and extra shifts at her job had all conspired against them, and suddenly Naomi felt a flicker of concern for the girl who was completly new to this. Maybe...

"Right" Emily had thrust her sign into Naomis hands and was digging into her shoulder bag.

"Um-?"

"Found it!" Switching it off, Emily stowed it away again, and readjusted the strap across her shoulder. "Now we should have at least one phone working, if one goes flat. Good thing you told me, babes ,or it would've gone to waste." She smiled, and reached out to take her sign back. "Thanks".

Naomi relaxed.


	3. Chapter 3

(Half an hour earlier)

The crowd wasn't surrounding them anymore. The brief crushing panic as the bodies pressed against them on all sides faded as the bodies receded, and now they were far away enough to see the mass of people at a distance, a few meters, maybe.

In a way, that was even more terrifying, Emily thought, even more so than when they'd had to cling to one another to stop themselves being separated, even more so than feeling Naiomis hands trembling as the bodies got closer, and the oxygen got thinner and the noise got louder. Now she could actually see what had nearly engulfed them- hundreds of people, like a solid mass, but too jagged, too chaotic to be described as heaving or swelling. They were words that implied a sense of rhythm, of order, of everybody moving in the same way at the same time. This was nothing like that.

Neon yellow police jackets showed through the crowd, through the hundreds of people packed tight in front of them; Emily stood on tiptoe to try to see more clearly.

"They aren't moving...", Naiomi breathed, and dissapointment swept over both of them. So the rumours wren't true.

They weren't letting people out. Probably they'd let no one out.

"Are they-?" A breathless dark haired boy appeared at Naiomis elbow, craning his neck to see through the masses. "We heard they were letting-"

"It's not true" Naimi cut him off, quickly, not wanting him to get his hopes up any longer. "We heard the same rumours, too, thats why we came up here..."

"Just like everyone else here..." Emily could see letdown in the faces closest to her. The shouting began to rise, then fall, erratically, as the truth spread.

"Fuck, thats...fuck..." The boy chewed his lip, glancing back over his shoulder. "My friends and me, we thought we'd be out by now, you know..." He shook his head. "Guess we won't be making the train back tonight, then."

"Sorry..." Naiomi wasn't sure why she was apologizing, but she did so anyway.

"Its not your fault" The boy threw a dark look at a lighted window several storeys above them. "It's not you who should apologize..." It was obvious where he laid the blame. "I should be getting back to break the news, anyway..." He smiled briefly at them. "Good luck, yeah?"

"Good luck..." Both girls echoed him half heartedly as he turned away, weaving through people, towards the brighter lit part of the square.

"Babes, do you want to go back?" Emily leant away from her girlfriends arms to see her face. "You look pretty cold..."

"Not the only one" Naiomi shiverd, and tightend her arms around Emily, who was shivering too. They were well wrapped up against the wintery day, but as time dragged on, the cold had penertrated their layers of clothing, until they were both freezing cold. Emily guessed it had something to do with standing around for so long. No circulation. Not that there was anywhere to go.

"We can go back if you like."

"Do you want to?"

"I'm not botherd" Emily looked back to the main square, then at the crowd in front of them. "Maybe we should stay, in case they start letting people out?"

"Ok, we'll stay, then"

Naiomi didn't have the heart to tell her girlfriend that she didn't think it was going to happen anytime soon.

Although, from the way Emily starred resignedly at the pavement, it looked like she wasn't the only one who didn't really believe it.


	4. Chapter 4

(Present)

They had remained standing in the same spot for some time; there was nowhere else to go, there was little reason to move, and Naiomi had focused more or less entirely on the red haired girl standing close to her side.

Thorugh their coats, she felt Emily shivering; a mixture of cold and anxiety she was sure. Not once in the hours they'd spent trapped in the kettle had Emily made any complaints of cold, or hunger, or fatigue, but Naiomi knew she must be feeling their effects as sharply as Naiomi was herself, if not more so.

If she'd been given the choice, if the offer had been made, she would've had Emily leave the kettle and go home, even if she had to stay behind; she couldn't bear the idea of her girlfriend slowly freezing there with the rest of them. Even if she couldn't admit it, it was true that something about Emily made her feel strangely protective: her own happiness at having her girlfriend with her battled with the voice in her head that told her that a potentially violent and chaotic kettle, filled with angry teenagers, police and horses was not a place for Emily to be. Not becuase she was weak, or anything...just BECAUSE. _Becuase you love her_, the voice in her head chided. _Becuase you can't bear the thought of anything happening to her. Because you love her, as much as she loves you_.

"Its passed. Fees are up" A voice, close to them, sounding disgusted, suddenly broke into her thoughts. "The bastards have fucking passed it..."

For a couple of beats, Naiomi was numb, unable to comprehend what he was saying. The cold, the hunger, thirst, exhaustion, had almost overshaddowed exactly what they were there for.

Then, slowly, slowly, a feeling of utter hopelessness began to invade her entire body.

"What...?" Emilys voice was almost puzzeled, with a thin vein of anger rising. "But...we're...everyone...what the fuck!" she suddenly burst out " We're all fucking here...everyones here...how can they just ignore us like this?"

"I don't know, Ems..." Naoimi felt sick. All the effort, all the weeks and months, everyone coming together, all the effort people had put in, and for what?

So they could fool themselves into thinking they were going to be listend to? So they could pretend the goverment would actually pay any attention to the united student voice that had risen up, rather than simply closing their ears to the pleas?

"Its disgusting..." Emilys voice grew stronger, as anger pushed aside fatigue for awhile. "Is this supposed to be a democracy? They lied, Nai, they fucking lied to all of us!"

"I know, Ems...i know..."

All at once, people were talking with renewed vigour. Whispers turned to raised voices, slumped bodies begain to straighten, anger crackling through the people packed tight together. Eyes narrowed, fists clenched, and as Naiomi sensed the change in mood, she was suddenly terrified.

All these people, angry, furious people, all pressed close, all the police, so close, with their batons and horses... A shout went up, feet began to pound the concrete: wide, scared eyes met her own, as Emily realised the potential danger too. Impetuous boys with sticks and stones and indignation...police, with their riot gear, desparate to keep order at any cost. Horses, wild with tension; teenagers in trainers, and no place to move to geto ut of the way.

A stampede, a crush was inevitable...people could be hurt in the chaos that was about to break lose. People might even, even be killed.

"Nai-" Emily whisperd "Its going to be crazy..."

"I think-" Naiomi gripped Emilys hand as tight as she could "I think...we should try and move out of the way before anything happens..."

And then, suddenly, it began: a wave of sound, of bitterness and anger, torn from the throats of a thousand teenagers whose futures had just been crushed, hit them, with a force that felt like a blow.

The crowd surged forward, then back as the police kept their positions. Bodies pushed, straining against the confines of the kettle, and from the front of the crowd, people crushed between two forces began to scream in pain and fear.

Couples were wrenched apart; people stumbled and fell, and were swallowed up in the sea of faces.

"Em!" Naiomi felt caught in a currant; she fought against it with all her strength "DO NOT LET GO OF MY HAND!" More than anything, she dreaded them being separated. There were so many people, so many confused, faceless people, she knew it would be near impossible for them to find one another again.

Emilys fingernails dug into Naiomis hand with the effort of keeping contact. A head shorter than Naiomi, she couldn't see a thing. She couldn't breathe, couldn't draw breath with the weight of the people around her, and the iron bands of fear closing round her chest.

The crowd shifted; a woman stumbled backwards, her head bloody from a recent wound, her eyes blank; a man pushed hard against the boy in front of him, not seeing the people around him, not seeing anything, his whole face contorted with hate as he roared wordlessly into the night air. Metal on metal; wood on metal; stone on metal.

A figure in a dark hoody with a scarf around his face scaled the bus shelter nearby and punched the air with his fists.

"OUR STREETS, OUR STREETS, OUR STREETS-" A few dozen people with enough breath left to chant took up his shout. Neon yellow blurs forced their way through the crowd, obviously intent in getting him down.

"OUR STREETS, OUR STREETS, OUR STREETS-"

No, thought Emily. Not our streets. The collective spirit of the morning had evaporated ,and now the chanting figures scared her as much as the armoured figures in yellow- their raw anger, the way you could tell it would be impossible to stop them or reason with them.

The chaos. The anarchy. There was no breath left for talking, no space in the mind left for reasoning, and now force was the only thing anyone responded to. The crowd pushed, the police pushed. Stones were hurled overhead, then sticks and the remanants of signs. The horses pressed forward, then galloped, and slowed, as the crowds scrambled desparately out of their way. Emily could taste their fear, as the horses beared down on them; and even the anxiety of the police, as they rode into a sea of pure hatred.

Someone pushed hard against their linked hands, and she screamed. "NAI! NAIOMI!"

She couldn't breathecouldn'tbreathecouldn'tbreathe, she could hear Naomi shouting something to her. Feet trampled over her own, sharp elbows dug into her sides, peole knocked into her again and again, and still she couldn't see where they were.

She couldn't see where the police were, if the chanters had provoked them, she could hear screams as the police got nearer but couldn't tell how close they were, or from what direction they were coming from. She could hardly see Naomi, only just feel her girlfriends hand in hers, their fingertips clinging...the twisting mass of bodies around her blurred, her head felt light...

DONT FAINT, she told herself. FAINT AND YOU'LL BE CRUSHED. JUST BREATHE-

But it was harder to breathe than ever by now.

Dark spots spun in front of her eyes-

And suddenly Naiomi tugged hard at her hand, and they were on the edge of the crowd now. People on one side, a decorative stone wall on the other, separating building from street.

The crowd was still close, but no one was pushing between them anymore; they were jostled rather than crushed...

"The wall-" Hurridly, Naomi pushed Emily against the wall, then onto it, before hopping up herself (her extra height making it easy) and breathing a sigh of relief.

"Thank god, we should be a bit more out of it up here, i think" Now they were on level with the shoulders of the people below. Then she looked at the girl beside her worridly. "Are you alright, Em?"

Emily still couldn't breathe. The pressure of the people around her had abated, but the bands around her own lungs hadn't.

She nodded, gasping in lungfuls of the cold night air, her throat and eyes burning, and Naiomi wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer.

"Its ok, its ok...just try and slow down a bit-" Her voice was soft, but Emily could hear the anxiety underneath. "Just calm down..."

She moved closer, Naiomis familiar scent of herbal essences shampoo and patchouli helping her to breathe more normally, and shut her eyes, trying to focus only on Naimois arms around her, her voice, her scent. She stopped hyperventilating; felt Naiomis relief as she held onto her tighter, but the fear was too recent to have faded.

A face slammed onto the top of the wall next to them. It was the boy from the busshelter, bent over as the police secured his hands. Close up, he looked about sixteen. Purple bloomed from a bruise on his temple; now he looked afraid. His eyes met Emilys for a moment, before he was hauled away.

Emilys eyes burned hot behind her closed eyelids. She kept her eyes closed to hold back the tears.

xxxxx

A/N This is drawn directly from my own experiences_ I've to protests before, but that was my first time in a kettle, and i swear, it was insane when we heard the Bill had passed. For those of you who don't know, a kettle is when police trap you in a certain area and refuse to let anyone in or out. I (and therefore Naiomily) are in Parliment Square.

Please let me know what you thought. Again, is it in character, do i portray them properly, was it vaguely interesting to read? Please let me know, so i can improve!


	5. Chapter 5

(Ten hours ago)

"FUCKS SAKE! EVERY TIME!"

Naomi twisted round and bit her lip to hide her smile. She had never figured out what it was about her that meant Emily invariably managed to get her bag caught on whatever bit of building or furniture was available, but Naomi always found her inevitable overeaction was hilarious.

"If you laugh at me, i swear to god i'm going to break up with you-" Emily gave her bag a final tug, pulling it free from the door handle that'd snagged it, and caught up.

"Well..." Naomi scanned the other people on the platform, mostly businessmen nursing polystyrene cups of coffee, and a man asleep on a bench. "Not that the selection isn't incredibly tempting...but i think i'll stick with you..."

"Really? You picked me over the bald guy reading Cosmopolitan?"

"Only because he's a least six foot ,and i like being the taller one of the couple"

"You're not that much taller-"

"Then next time, get your own bag off the top of the wardrobe!"

"... I hate you"

"Hate you, too, babes"

Their fingers interlinked, they stopped halfway along the platform to wait for the train, and leant their signs up against a large shiney advertisment board.

Emily glanced down at sign belonging to her girlfriend and snorted with laughter.

"What?"

"I just thought of something-"

"Omigod!"

"..."

"Please don't ever try and evil anyone else ever again"

"Why?"

"Because it makes you look about as scary as Bambi, and i don't think anyone else would realize what emotion you were trying to convey"

"To quote Katie...LOL"

"Ah, the eloquence of the Fitch sisters..."

"Whatever. You made me forget what i was going to... wait, i rememberd! WHY is your sin attached to a plank?"

"It isn't a plank!"

"It's practically a two-by-four!"

"We didn't have anything else!"

"What if they won't let your through the ticket barrier? What if they think you're just going to break windows with it, and take it away, or like, arrest you or something?"

"Hmmm...probably take you as a hostage until they let me go"

"I'm flatterd"

"Should be. Maybe we'll be on the news"

"Hope not, i told Katie to tell Doug I was ill."

"What about your mum?"

"Asked Katie to cover for me if i was late home"

"So?"

"She'll have told her everything by now, and mum is probably gearing up for an angry phonecall in three...two...one..."

"Wow, you're phones actually ringing!"

"Told you i was psychic...Wait, what are you doing?"

"Hello, Mrs Fitch...no, Emily can't come to the phone... Sorry...I've taken her hostage for the day... Love you too... Bye..."

"Well?"

"I think my eardrums have burst from all her screaming..."

"I'm sure she was just expressing her gratitude to you."

"Of course"

"Love you"

"Love you too"


	6. Chapter 6

(Ten hours ago)

To Katie Fitches eternal credit, she had never intended to tell Jenna anything.

Sure, she'd rolled her eyes when Emily had approached her during the lunch break at college with the bribe of the latest issue of Cosmopolitan, and taken the piss, as she inevitably, inevitably did ("Omiod, Ems, that sounds like so much fucking fun! Like, what else is there to do in London, except march around with a bunch of weirdo hippy freaks with your ugly girlfriend? What could BE more fun? Oh, i know! ANYTHING!"), but she'd agreed to cover for her sister, as they both knew she would.

The teasing was one of the inescapable parts of being sisters, but having each others backs was the equally important other part.

They'd arranged for Emily to leave as unobstrusivly as possible, under the cover of Katie putting her stereo up to top volume and treating the still-sleeping household to the unmuffled sound of Cee-Lo Green urging people to forget you: Effy, a veteran at sneaking in and out of houses, had passed on her and Tonys tried-and-tested method oof creating a diversion. It worked just as effectivly, the only difference being that instead of shouting and swearing like Mr Stonem, Rob Fitch had made a mental note to take the CD player to be fixed, before going to placate his furious wife.

At about eight oclock, Jenna had finally realised her other daughter was not in the house and was going about her interrogations (not that interrogating her youngest child had taken much time: James had promptly told her that Emily was "probably fucking Naomi, because Gordon McPherson says dykes have sex rightafter breakfast", at which she had fled his bedroom).

"Katherine Fitch, i will NOT ask you AGAIN! WHERE is your sister?"

"I already TOLD you! She felt ill, so she went to the doctors this morning. It's all cleared with college, Mum, honestly!"

"You're lying! TELL ME where she IS!"

"IM NOT LYING!"

"Then i'm calling the police!"

"What?"

"Katherine! I have already checked with both the doctors office AND college, and Emily is not there! Now either she's lying to both of us, or you're BOTH lying to me- either way, i intend on finding out where she is!"

"But why the POLICE?"

"Because i don't doubt she's with...THAT girl, doing something dangerous, and i wont have Emily dragged down to her level! Drugs, alcohol, b-" (it had been on the tip of Jennas tongue to say boys, purely from habit, before she rememberd that boys were no longer The Enemy) "...in any case, i won't allow it, and it will be better for both of them if Emily is taken from under the girls influence!"

"WHAT INFLUENCE?"

Katie rarely took up for her sister (it was seldom neccasery), and even more rare for her to take up for Naomi...but something about what Jenna was saying made her angry. She'd barely spoken to Naomi, and yet was already making up her mind that she was An Influence. Sure, Katie herself was not espeacially fond of the girl...but she'd gotton over her prejudice enough to see that she made her sister happy, happier than she'd ever seen her, in fact. And while she may not care much for Naomi, she cared a lot about Emily...and something told her that being having the police after her was not something Emily needed right now.

So she told the truth, and sent a silent prayer up that Emily would forgive her...


	7. Chapter 7

They were getting closer.

Over the roofs and balconies, over the peaks and spires of the buildings, that had gradually grown more and more official looking the deeper they got into london, the houses of parliment were clearly visible, glowing golden in the mid afternoon sun, but even if they weren't, Emily knew she would've been able sense they were getting closer to their destination.

The energy of the crowd was building again; people hoisted their signs higher up on their shoulders with a fresh determination and the chanting, which had grown sporadic, was taken up again by fresh voices.

"I say cutback, you say-"

"FIGHT BACK!"

The response was instant, and Naomi felt a little glow of pride to hear her girlfriend, her Emily, shouting as enthusiastically as she was.

Apathy, in any of its forms, followed close on the heels of "generally acting like a twat" when it came to Naomis biggest turn-offs: people who shrugged at injustice and "weren't really interested in politics and that stuff" made her want to hit something, and when it came from people she knew, Naomi always felt personally irritated with them, as if they'd failed her.

She'd never thought of Emily as being apathetic, of course (Katie was a whole different matter): if she had, Naomi knew inside that she wouldn't have been able to stay in their relationship longer than five minutes, as much as she loved the girl...but she'd never seen her shouting slogans before, she'd never seen her infused with the kind of energy that came from shouting for a cause you believed in, and she had to admit, she was finding it a huge turn-on.

(It didnt hurt, of course, that the sun happend to be angled just right to pick up the red-purple tint in her girlfriends hair, or that when she turned to beam at her girlfriend, the sunlight illuminated her. It didnt hurt that her cheeks were glowing and her eyes sparkling; it didn't hurt that Emilys smile could always melt her, no matter where they were.)

"...NICK CLEGG, SHAME ON YOU, SHAME ON YOU FOR TURNING BLUE-"

The chant ended abruptly as the girl holding the microphone stopped for breath, and the couple of voices who hadnt noticed trailed off embarrasedly, making the people around them laugh.

"Don't say it, Ems"

Bewilderd, Emily looked at her. "Say what?"

"Don't say what you were going to say..."

"You don't even KNOW what i was going to say!"

"You were going to say it was an awkward turtle moment. Don't deny it, Ems, I know you too well-"

"..."

"...the hand movement counts as saying, by the way..."

"Damn you, Campbell..."

"I'm sorry, babes. Theres only so many turtles a girl can take, you know."

"I think you need to accept just how many awkward turtles there are in life..."

"Do i really have to?"

"Hey, love me, love my turtle..."

Naomi started laughing, unable to keep a straight face any longer, and then sighed.

"Have i told you that you look beautiful today?"

Their march slowed to a walk, then a stop: their kiss was sweet and lingering, made sweeter still by the fact that no one called them out on it. For a few moments, Emily let herself drift into their bubble, in which nothing existed but Naomi in her arms, one hand in her hair, the hot skin of her neck beneath Emils lips, then her throat, her lips...just the two of them for a few precious moments, before they broke apart and carried on walking, the glow now surrounding them both...


	8. Chapter 8

The crowd grew more fragmented as the neared the entrance to Parliment square, and the chanting stopped again. People were tense and excited: Naomi felt the electricity running through her, not quite MDMA but not dissimilar either, and walked faster to catch up with people in front, Emily beside her.

They were slowing down, though.

The line was slowly but surely coming to an awkward halt: everyone stood there, wondering what had happend, and then some people turned around, floating back towards friends and family behind them with confusion in their faces. Some just carried on walking- one or two at first, then more. Emily caught snippets of their conversations as they went past, and she took Naomis hand.

"Nai...what does kettled mean...?"

xxxxx

The rumour spread: if they went inside parliment square grounds, they might be kettled at some point later.

One woman said it was all nonsense: a fear-mongering tactic to make them go home; a man said he'd heard that they'd only be kettled if anything got seriously damaged, but that it was still worth going in.

Groups drifted: Naomi and Emily, standing together because they'd brought no one else with them, picked up as much as they could from overheard conversations.

A few people had left, but most, in the end, seemed to be resolving to stay.

"They can't kettle all of us" was said over and over again, and it was true, Naomi thought: how COULD they kettle everyone?

A little surge of people moved forward, and the girls moved with them. They were on the edge of Parliment square now, so many people around them they couldnt see. People clung to railings and walls and anything else that gave them a bit of height, but still no one seemed to know what was going on. Hand in hand, they ducked through the crowds, trying to get their bearings, Naomi craning her head to see, Emily not even trying that exercise in futility.

There was muttering, but nothing loud. They- with hundreds of others that they could not see- waited...

Then, without warning, a cry as something flew over the heads of the people near to them- dried manure from the police horses, and obviously hurled from the crowd. There were shrieks of protest from the crowd as they tried to get out of the way, but more of it was thrown, and people started shouting, not chanting but just shouting in the direction of the front of the crowd, with an unsettling harshness in their tone.

Naomi turned, craning to see over the crowd, then tugged Emilys hand.

"Come on-"

"What is it?"

"Nothing. Just the anarchists, i think, chucking stuff."

"The same ones as before?"

"Not sure. I dont want us to be too close to them-"

Emily nodded, and followed her girlfriend through the people.

She didnt want to be anywhere near those people if she could help it...

xxxxx

They'd been walking for only an hour or so, pointing out signs to each other and giggling over them.

"Em-" Naomi pointed to a large cardboard banner with a kitten on it, and Emily smiled.

"It's so sweet!" Underneath the picture, it read: TORYS KILL KITTENS.

"And that one-" Naomi couldnt help thinking of Cook when she saw it, it was just the kind of sign he'd have made if he had come: big and red, with jagged black letters, "USE PROTECTION BECUASE THE LIB DEMS FUCK YOU OVER".

"And-" Emily broke off. They'd unintentionally slowed down, and new faces were marching either side of them now. And while before they'd been amidst a mass of colour, the people to their left were dressed complelty in black. Most of them wore scarves or bandanas over their faces, each with a large A in a circle drawn over the middle; some of them carried what looked like makeshift truncheons. At least half of them wore plain white masks that coverd their entire faces.

They didnt march in time, but they walked close together, with a precision reminiscent of the army, their faces blank and their eyes cold.

Naomis hand jerked Emily back: Naomi had stopped walking entirely, and she kept her eyes fixed on the group.

"Wait with me a bit, Em, ok?"

"Yeah..." She supressed a shiver, unsure of whether it had anything to do with the cold. "Who are they?"

"The anarchists" Naomi replied, still not walking. "At least, i think so-"

"Really?"

She nodded "Well, its what they call themsleves. All i know is, they cover up their faces, hit out more than anyone, and usually destroy anything they touch. Walk with them and you'll end up in trouble. Its always the same-"

"Anti goverment?"

"If i wasnt convinced they were just fucktards who like breaking stuff under a banner, id say yes, but i've seen what they do" Naomi, obviously deciding that the group were a safe distance away, started walking again. "Spray paint everything. Burn stuff. Not, like, tactically, not so itll mean anything, not so it has a point, just so that the police see it, and label us ALL as vandals. Really fucks everything up, actually..."

"Oh...so not real anarchists?"

"If they are, its a sad look out for anarchists everywhere..."

xxxxx

Behind them, Emily could make out black jackets and hoods through the people; in front of them, the neon yellow of police jackets- enough to know they were there, but no way to tell how close they were, or how many. There could be-

Another shriek, then something else flying overhead, trailing acid green smoke.

It flew through the air, then dissapeard into the crowd as it hit the earth. A quiet pop, then clouds of the smoke began to rise up and engulf the crowd. Naomi recognized it. A smoke bomb.

Another one, red this time; then another green.

The smoke mixed together as it rose and spread, already swirling around Naomi and Emily, who were unable to move away.

People pushed to try and get away from it, the crowd thinned a little-

-and then a policeman, visible over the heads of the people around them , two, three, four, five policemen on horses, riding fast towards the crowd.

Up until that minute, Naomi had not realised how close the police were to them. or how many of them were there. Judging from Emilys face, neither had she.

People pushed with more urgency to get away from the horses which were still coming; people were panicking, crying out.

More manure was thrown, scattering over the shields and helmets of the police in their riot clothes.

Emily had never in her life been afraid of horses, she'd never even contemplated it...but now, seeing the mounted police advancing- not quite a gallop, but much faster than a trot- she suddenly realised how small and soft and vulnerable they were beside the huge horse, how utterly helpless they would be...and now she was afraid.

Naomi pulled her hand, tugging Emily along behind her, as they ran with the crowd, sudden adrenaline in the air. She wasnt exactly afraid- having seen too many horses on protests already, but she wasnt exactly calm either: she knew instinctivly that she wouldve been less afraid had Emily not been with her.

A man screamed somewhere in the crowd that one of the horses had stood on his foot, and one of the policemen slowed down...only for a group of men at the back of the retreating crowd to turn. Sensing weakness, they ran back towards the horse as one, and started grabbing at the policeman, their eyes bright with hate.

Even from where they were, Emily could tell the horse was panicking as much as the people now: as intimidating as it was, she couldnt help but feel sorry for it, surrounded by roung hands and unable to move. It tried to rear, and the policeman steadied it, hitting out the youths around him as he did so.

They were slowing down: the horses had stopped too, a sizable gap now left between police and protestors, and the two groups eyed each other...

Then, slowly, the horses began to retreat.

A collective sigh of relief went through the watching crowd.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I apologise a hundred times for being so incredibly absent for so long. In case any of you were interested, it was totally for good cause: A levels are long over,I got the grades I needed, and I'm now just finishing off my second week at The University of Warwick =D (Doing English lit, of course. What else? =D)

I only just realised how much of a response I got for this story, and if i haven't already said so,i am incredibly greatful.

This update is specifically for KeffyRules, who gave me some of the nicest reviews I've ever gotton on this website =D Also, check out her Keffy fics_they're really good! So love to you! I really hope you like this chapter...it's an experiment I'm trying out.

Here, guys...

Xxxxxxx

It was the fucking cigarette smoke that did it.

Not, though, that Katie actually had a problem with cigarette smoke per se... she might not want to smoke the things herself, but she wasn't, like phobic or anything- too many of her friends smoked for her to be able to maintain any kind of serious problem with smoking itself while still having any kind of a social life.

It was more that cigarette smoke, in Katie's mind at least, was inextricably linked with the less-than-glamorous mental image of her and Emily's Uncle Paul, who liked his nicotine fix nearly as much as he liked painfully bright golf jumpers, heavy gold rings and not worrying about remembering to put deodorant on every day.

Which made it boarderline disturbing/hilarious that cigarette smoke also happened to hail the arrival of Effy-i'm-so-fit-and-myterious-Stonem, as well as that of Uncle Paul, and his invariable routine of knock-knock jokes...

It would have made Katie laugh out loud...except that 1) only weirdos laugh at nothing in public and 2) this meant that Effy fucking Stonem was behind her, and she really had no interest in the weirdness and unpredictability and general mindfuck that inevitably came with Effy wherever she went.

Not that she ever really enjoyed the Stonem's own personal brand of headfuck, to be honest, but today- with Em flitting casually away to London as if she was going for a picnic rather than to stand in a crowd of fire-and-truncheon-wielding possible psychopaths and shout things at another crowd of people, who would be fully capable of crushing and/or trampling a less-than-average height teenage girl, if not to death, then pretty fucking close... No. She definitely wasn't in the mood today.

She'd picked her spot in the common room specifically for its awkward position- anyone stopping by her seat would block the way for anyone trying to get past...although, thinking about it, since when would Effy care about something as stupid as that?

_Just walk by...just walk by...Go on. Go to class or the cafe or home or to hell, for all I care. Just don't even think about talking to me... Come home, Ems. Please be all right. Please come home...Please don't get- No. You can't even finish that sentence. Just...be alright... Please be alright, Em..._

"Katie"

_Fuck._

"...Do you want something?"

The smirk. The infuriating Stonme smirk that means everything and nothing at once.

"Not particularly...At least...for now..."

"Then why are you talking to me? Because I'd really appreciate it if you could just fuck off now, yeah?"

Anyone else would have gone by now. Except maybe Cook. They're equally irritating, except that Effy is more subtle about it.

"You seemed to not want to talk to me particularly strongly today... Can practically feel it, you know"

"Whatever" Just ignore her, just ignore her, just...

"You know...we're a lot more similar than you think, Katie..."

"What?" No way does Katie want to hear whatever she and Effy have in common.

"Well...we're both alone today, for one thing. Since Naomi took Emily along with her, and Cook's probably still asleep in a ditch or something. So. We're both... cut loose"

"...What?"

This is one of the few times Katie remembers any expression on Effys face that wasn't calculated, as normal: for a second, a flicker of annoyance.

"Naomi's my friend too, Katiekins"

"Whatever. Emily's my SISTER. It's not even a fucking comparison, you know that, right?" Pause. "Besides, it's not like you even have friends. Just have people who you fuck and people who you fuck WITH."

A tiny pause, a moment of...something, in Effys face; perhaps hurt, or perhaps nothing...then she smiles lazily.

"Touche. Question is...who's who?"

There it is: the moment of breathless scrabble for a reply, inevitable when letting yourself get sucked into a conversation with Effy, who twists everything to mess you up, for her own personal enjoyment. Bitch.

"You're not the only person who cares, you know. I'm just not letting it screw with me for an entire day like" her eyes flicker "...some people..."

Katie can't even answer that at first, which makes her even angrier, and Effy just stands there and smirks at her.

"Like you give a fuck about Em!"

"I do, actually" Is that an edge in Effys voice? Is it possible that Katie might actually be AFFECTING her by her words? And if so, Katie is more than happy to exploit that to her full advantage because she's fucking had it up to HERE with the stupid mindgames...

"Oh yeah? Do you even know what could happen to her? Did Naomi mention that part of it to you?" Because she definitely told Ems, who then told Katie, who, at the time, had let it persuade her that they were doing something that had to be done.

"You know she could get arrested, right? Like, properly arrested? And you know they have horses there too? Fucking BIG horses with guys on them with BATONS and shit. Like they're gonna notice Em if she gets in the way! She gets practically knocked over in the halls at college!"

Effy blinks, looks away, looks back at her. Definite cracks appearing in the mask now. And Katie, with the perverse pleasure of gaining a reaction from Effy, who never seems to react to anything, can't resist pushing on them.

"What if it gets violent? So what...like, best case scenario, Naomi goes crazy to protect Em and they arrest her? Or, like, if they both get hurt anyway, yeah? Did you even think about that? Or even if Naomi can look after herself, d-do you really think that Em, that Em-"

She doesn't notice her voice breaking at first. She doesn't realise how blurry Effy is until she blinks wet eyelids and everything smears together.

"I-I can't look after her in London-"

And, although she won't admit it, she hadn't realised she was even thinking these things until she said them out loud. Pressing the black gulf of horrible possibilities onto Effy to make her crumble has meant pressing them upon herself: now she has said them out loud and they're concrete.

They hang heavy and irretractable around them both: _What if..._

Their presence wrings the sobs from Katies own throat.

"What i-if...w-what if-"

Unexpectedly, skin gently grazes her own bare arms: Effys hands coming to rest on her back, wrapping her in a patchouli-and-cigarette-smoke embrace, slightly cooler than most.

_Trust Effy to not be the same as everyone else. Trust Effy not even to have the same body temperature as everyone else._

It's an irrelevant observation in the midst of her own swirling sea of panic- a split second of numbing the pain by thinking about something other than the picture she suddenly can't get out of her head: Em, getting crushed in a hoard of faceless figures, with blood at her temple, of carelessly flung bottles or bricks, or misplaced blows, of a terrified horse's clumsy, heavy hooves, of truncheons glancing off riot shields...

At the same time, in the corner of her mind that is left free to deal with the abstract and immaterial, is the question as to why and how they suddenly came to be in this position: how, exactly, did they go from Katie pressing, intentionally, too hard for a reaction, to Effy- whose only touches are all about control- holding onto her to...what, comfort her?

"Is she okay?"

It's a voice she doesn't recognise. But any display of any kind of emotion in a public place, at least, if that public place happens to be college, will inevitably draw people: not out of concern, but in their hunger for gossip. _Knowledge is power, especially at school._

And the sight of Mysterious-Effy-the-highly-fuckable-enigma actually comforting Queen-Bitch-Katie is enough to draw everybody in.

She really, really doesn't want an audience for this, but Effy is already- surprisingly gently- pulling her away.

"Come on-"

And, magically, perhaps because it's Effy, or because she's Katie, or because of both of them, a path forges through the Red Sea...


	10. Chapter 10

She still doesn't smoke.

She reminds herself of this fact several times as Effy pulls out a lighter from the pocket of her shorts and puts a flame to their cigarettes.

Then she presses a finger against Katie's collarbone.

"Inhale. Then inhale again, yeah?"

It's the first thing either of them has said, from the walk straight out of college and across the grounds and to this bench on the slope of a hill, because there is little for either of them to say.

And they inhale at the same time, both looking out over Bristol, spread out before them, sitting close enough to touch, although the bench is pretty big.

"She's stronger than you think, you know" Effy suddenly says, breaking the silence.

"Easy for you to say, when it's not your sister-" The words jump out before she can stop them. Effy just watches her.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. But she is, really. I mean...with all the stuff she's done and Naomi have done."

"That's not the same"

"Not exactly. But still. People forget to give her credit for that..."

"I- I know she's not, like, weak or anything. It's just...she's _Emily_. We look after each other. How the fuck can I do that if she's..."

"Naomi-"

"Look...I know they're...whatever. I know I was a total bitch about it, I just-"

"You didn't want her getting into something where you couldn't follow her, to make sure she was okay."

"...Yeah."

"And you can just be a bitch sometimes."

She's about to do something- a biting reply, a slap, even just walking away- except that she has to admit, Effy is right.

As fucking usual, when it comes to stuff like this.

"You-...yeah. Okay? Yes."

"So?"

"...What?"

"Don't start thinking you're so special that you're the only one of us who's ever been a total bitch to someone they love, okay?"

"..."

"Because you're not. Everyone has, and anyone who says they haven't is a lying fuck."

"...okay..."

They sit in silence for a minute or two, smoke drifting away on the breeze.

"Do you want me to tell you it's going to be ok?"

"Why the fuck would you do that?"

Effy smirks.

"...I wouldn't. But people do."

"Well, people do all kinds of stupid stuff, babes..."

Pause.

"Why the fuck are you doing this for me, Effy?"

"...Do you want me to go?"

"No"

The silence stretches again.

After a while, Katie feels the cold, smooth neck of a bottle being pushed into her hand, and Effys own cool arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

She leans against the girl beside her, as they alternate sips of vodka straight from the bottle, absorbing Effy's own peculiar brand of comfort.


End file.
